NASA begins mission to map the boundaries of our heliosphere
A NASA probe has started its mission to map the heliosphere, which is a huge protective bubble around the solar system that was created by the sun, the space agency announced on Monday.
The space agency's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, is expected to continue its mission for two years, using scientific instruments to chart the boundaries of the heliosphere and what's going on inside of it.
The probe is focusing on high-energy particles bursting from the surface of the sun, the magnetic fields that form in the spaces between planets, and the dust left behind by collapsed stars farther out in the galaxy.
"The spacecraft studies the Sun's activity and how the heliosphere's boundary interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond," NASA said.
The mission could help scientists answer fundamental questions about the universe. Scientists also hope it will help them understand what NASA says are "two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics, namely the energization of charged particles from the Sun and the interaction of the solar wind at its boundary with interstellar space."
It will also give insight into solar activity's influence over space weather, and the relationships between those patterns and phenomena like solar flares, solar storms and coronal mass ejections. NASA said tracking space weather and broadcasting near-real-time observations about the conditions may be helpful for forecasters as they "issue advanced warnings and alerts of potential adverse space weather effects on the health and safety of spacecraft and astronauts."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center now provides updates on space weather conditions using data from the IMAP mission. Its last update early Tuesday warned of a strong solar flare that occurred Monday evening just before 7 p.m. ET. Described by scientists as "eruptions of energy" from the sun's surface, flares as powerful as this latest one can potentially impact communication on Earth for up to a few hours, according to the prediction center.
NASA's IMAP mission began shortly after researchers pinpointed a steady increase in solar activity following a decades-long lull. Their study, published in September, showed that the sun became more and more active over the last 16 or so years, in a reversal that scientists said may affect space weather and technology on Earth.